Productivity continues to improve in the US, but as Arnold Kling asserts, don't give credit to policy makers in Washington.
"As far as I know, President Bush has not claimed credit for the phenomenal productivity growth that has occurred during his Administration. Nor should he. As Dick Cheney said when asked during the Vice-Presidential debate whether he was better off in 2000 than he was four years ago, 'Yes, but government had nothing to do with it.' ....The most likely explanation for the faster productivity growth of recent years is the gradual diffusion and exploitation of computer technology."
I might go a little further and suggest that there is one government policy that increases productivity: A policy of governmental "hands-off" in relation to economic development. The more government tries to steer, cajole, or otherwise manipulate economic activity, the more it tends to stifle productivity and entrepreneurial economic development.
